NTSB Report Confirms Engineering Flaws Caused Fatal Titan Submersible Implosion in 2023

On Wednesday, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), an independent US government investigative agency responsible for examining civil transportation accidents, published its final report on the Titan submersible implosion that claimed five lives in June 2023.

The submersible, operated by Washington state-based private company OceanGate, vanished during its expedition to the Titanic wreckage site, triggering a high-profile search operation that captured global attention.

According to the comprehensive report, the implosion resulted from OceanGate's deficient engineering practices and failure to adequately test the Titan's structural integrity. Investigators discovered that the carbon fiber hull contained numerous imperfections, including wrinkles, porosity, and voids that significantly compromised its structural strength.

"We found that the Titan pressure vessel likely sustained damage after it surfaced at the end of dive 80 in the form of one or more delaminations, which weakened the pressure vessel," the report stated. The NTSB explained that delamination occurs when layers within the carbon fiber hull begin separating from each other.

The report highlighted that OceanGate failed to address these critical issues before the fatal dive that claimed the lives of OceanGate's founder and CEO Stockton Rush, British billionaire Hamish Harding, French maritime expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood.

"We determined that the probable cause of the hull failure and implosion... was OceanGate's inadequate engineering process, which failed to establish the actual strength and durability of the Titan pressure vessel and resulted in the company operating a carbon fiber composite vessel that sustained delamination damage... resulting in a damaged internal structure that subsequently led to a local buckling failure of the pressure vessel," the report concluded.

This tragic incident also exposed significant gaps in both domestic and international regulatory frameworks governing submersible operations and vessels with experimental designs.

As a result of its investigation, the NTSB issued 17 safety recommendations, including implementing comprehensive regulations for submersible vessels and enhancing coordination between federal agencies.

In August, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) released its own report, concluding that the disaster was preventable and resulted from flawed experimental design and disregarded safety warnings.